Dragonborn - Cleansing the Stones

After you cleanse the Wind Stone you will be tasked with cleansing the rest of the All Maker Stones.

Travel to the location of each of the Stones and use the Bend Will shout to cleanse them and end Miraak's influence on Solstheim. At each Stone Lurkers will appear after you cleanse them, defeat them.
Not much else to this quest.

Next up is the search for the Black Books starting with a trip to Neloth the Telvani Wizard.

Dragonborn - The Fate of the Skaal

Quick Walkthrough

Follow Frea to the Skaal Village and speak to Storn Crag-Strider who is engaged in keeping up a barrier of protection.

Travel to Saering's Watch to learn a new dragon shout then use it on the Wind Stone.

Return to Storn Crag-Strider.

Dragonborn - The Temple of Miraak

I am not doing a complete walk-through but a show of some of the quests beautiful screens along the way. This quest starts when you discover Miraak's Temple. The design of the Temple is just amazing, I love the amount of work that went into coming up with these Structures.

Speak to Frea and she will join you on the quest.

Once inside you will find this amazing level.

Just love the details.

 

 

At the end of the Sanctum level you will discover a Black Book, open it and dark tentacles will reach out of the book's pages and grab you. You will be transported to a strange realm where you will see Miraak.

He gives you a speech then sends you back to await his arrival in Soltsheim. When you awake speak to Frea again she will suggest that you follow her to her village and talk to her father, Storn Cragstrider.and the next quest continues from there.

I cant say it enough, the design was fantastic I took so much time just looking around and enjoying the views!! Truly 10 out of 10 to Bethesda for this and in fact the entire Skyrim Game which has the same level of detail.

Skyrim Dragonborn - Unearthed Quest

This was a quest I actually enjoyed. Northeast of the Old Attius Farm is Kolbjorn Barrow. Outside Kolbjorn Barrow is a Dunmer named Ralis Sedarys. Talk to him and he'll explain that he is a treasure hunter and has come with news that he has located a treasure in the barrow, but he cannot afford to excavate it alone and requests a donation of 1000 gold, with a promise of a share of any treasure discovered.

 After each time you fund part of the excavation you will get a note to return, when you do you will have to clear out the new part of the tomb and then cough up some more loot to carry on the excavation. Its all worth it as each time you discover parts of Ahzidal's heavy armour and rings. You can find the Black Book Filament and Filigree at the end of the tunnel.

Ahzidal's treasure consists of  :

Ahzidal's Boots of Waterwalking are available after the first phase of digging.
Ahzidal's Ring of Necromancy may be found after the second phase.
Ahzidal's Gauntlets of Warding and Ahzidal's Ring of Arcana can be acquired after the third phase.
Ahzidal's Armor of Retribution and Ahzidal's Helm of Vision become available after the fourth phase.

At the end of the quest  you will face a Dragon Priest and once you kill him and exit the tomb you will have to decide if you want to execute Ralis or spare him. I spared him:) I like these types of choices that develop your character and have an impact on the game as each choice has positive and negative effects. If you spare his life he can become your follower. If you kill him you can loot his body for Hoarfrost a unique pickaxe

Skyrim Dragonborn - Retaking Thirsk Quest

When I heard that some of the old landmarks from Morrowind-Bloodmoon were still in the game I was pretty excited to explore them all over again.

One of the best memories I have of Bloodmoon was the Thirsk (picture below) Quests culminating in you becoming the Chieftain and running the Mead Hall.

One of the first places in the game I visited was the Thirsk area and stumbled across Bujold's Retreat which is one way of triggering on side of the Thirsk Quest line. Once I spoke to Bujold and discovered that they were kicked out of Thirsk by Reiklings and want your help to get it back. I thought to myself great! here we go, I will be running the Mead Hall soon. From the UESP Wiki

 'Agree to join the assault on Thirsk Mead Hall and kill all the rieklings in the mead hall. When it's done, talk to Bujold. She asks you to accompany her to Hrothmund's Barrow. Enter the barrow with Bujold and help her regain her leadership title. When Hrothmund's spirit tells her she's not worthy to remain a leader, you can either agree to lie to her crew and tell them she's still their leader, or tell her she won't get away with the lie. If you take the latter option, she will turn on you, and you must kill her. Upon returning with Bujold to Thirsk Mead Hall, you will be confronted by her husband Kuvar. You can either lie about what happened, as you agreed, or expose Bujold's intentions. Exposing the lie will lead to Bujold being exiled from the hall.'

So no Chieftain and running the Mead Hall  as a reward for you here! I was pretty miffed! then to make it worse I read up on the UESP Wiki that if you side with the Reiklings and do the Thirsk Quest from their side, which is similar to the Bloodmoon version, you can become the Chieftain that way.

All too late for me!! more cursing!!

I thought the quest design was a bit off as the Mead Hall should be run by Nords after-all not Reiklings?????

Skyrim - Dragonborn - My Thoughts

Like many millions of others I purchased Dragonborn as soon as it was released and have played it to death. I must say that I am much more impressed with this DLC than the previous Dawnguard DLC which I thought was a bit overpriced for the content and the quests etc were not very captivating. Perhaps if I was 'into' being a vampire it would have been worth it but as it is I rarely play as a werewolf never mind a vampire.

My apologies if any spoilers are going to be mentioned as I am going to post my overview of the game and some of the quests etc on this blog so don't read if don't want to know.

I was accosted by two acolytes on my travels, they were carrying a note from Miraak ordering my extermination, so naturally I was bound for Solstheim. When you arrive you are greeted by Adril Arano the Second Councillor of Raven Rock, who cant remember for sure who Miraak is but you get a lead to investigate the Shrine. No one else can remember who he is either.

 

This is the shrine, just to your left as you enter Raven Rock.

I decided not to pursue the main quest straight away as I wanted to check out all my old haunts from Morrowind Bloodmoon so I headed for Raven Rock.

As you head up the dock the building looming above the gap in the wall is the Temple.

This is a view looking back towards the dock.

This is a picture looking down onto the docks with the town behind.

I explored the town first before entering any building just to get a layout of the area. You have a house on its own on the left edge of Raven Rock called Severin Manor. Spoiler - this will become your home on Solstheim when you complete the relevant quests. I always wanted a Redoran style home and in Morrowind I played the game a second time, joining the Redoran Faction, just to get one.

In the center of the town is Lenth Farm. Garyn supplies most of the town's food and you can purchase food items from him.

Part of the Lenth farm is the alchemy table and Milore Lenth that is an apothecary and can offer training as well. She offers a quest to gather samples of Netch jelly for her.

Nearby is the blacksmith Glover Mallory who is the brother of Delvin Mallory in the Thieves Guild in Riften. Glover is also a member of the Guild and will offer you two quests, the first to retrieve an Ancient Nordic Pick Axe which you will need to  mine Stalhrim and the other to recover his Bonemold Armour formula.

This is the Temple building.

Here is the Retching Netch a corner club where everybody hangs out after work and has a few drinks.

Next up is the Bulwark also doubles as the Barracks. The walls and buildings were built to protect the town from the ash storms.

The Councillor's abode Morvayn Manor. Not very impressive for a guy that rules Solstheim.

 The Ebony Mine.

The Caerellius House, home of the guy that runs the mine and offers you the 'Final Descent' Quest.

The picture from the Retching Netch to Caerellius House is courtesy of the UESP Wiki.

The last building in Raven Rock is an Abandoned Building that becomes inhabited after you complete the 'Cleansing the Stones' Quest.

This is a view of the volcano, just on the outskirts of town, responsible for all that ash.

That's it for the overview of Raven Rock.